Financial Disclosure

The Ethics Law, Article 7, §7-6-101 et. seq., requires all elected officials, candidates for county elective office, managerial level employees, and volunteer members of county boards and commissions to file annual disclosure statements.

Financial disclosure statements are public documents that may be examined or copied upon request. The Ethics Commission must notify every filer whenever that filer’s statement is examined, and provide the name and address of the person who requested the document.

Disclosure statements provide one way to guard against conflicts of interest.

There are two types of disclosure statements:

Financial disclosure statements require the filer to list all interests in real property and business entities, debts to entities doing business with the county, gifts received from “controlled donors”, sources of income, and compensated employment with any entity that does business with the county. All elected officials, candidates for elective office, managerial-level employees, and some volunteers file financial disclosure statements.

Conflict of interest statements require the filer to list only those interests that may conflict with the filer’s service on a particular board or commission.

The Ethics Commission sends the necessary forms to each filer at the end of March. Upon request, the Commission staff will provide assistance in filling out the statements.

Disclosure statements must be submitted to the Ethics Commission by April 30 of each year. The statement covers financial information for the previous calendar year. For example, a statement that is filed on April 30, 2014 covers information for the period January 1 - December 31, 2013. Upon receipt, the Ethics Commission reviews each statement for completion and for apparent conflicts of interest.

Filers are also required to update all financial information upon their termination of employment or service with the county. A termination disclosure statement is also a public document.